Along an assembly line, various types of articles, such as for example, diapers and other absorbent articles, may be assembled by adding components to and otherwise modifying an advancing, continuous web of material. For example, in some processes, advancing webs of material are combined with other advancing webs of material. In other examples, individual components created from advancing webs of material are combined with advancing webs of material, which in turn, are then combined with other advancing webs of material. Webs of material and component parts used to manufacture diapers may include: backsheets, topsheets, leg cuffs, waist caps, absorbent core components, front and/or back ears, fastener components, and various types of elastic webs and components such as leg elastics, barrier leg cuff elastics, stretch side panels, and waist elastics. Once the desired component parts are assembled, the advancing web(s) and component parts are subjected to a final knife cut to separate the web(s) into discrete diapers or other absorbent articles.
After the final knife cut, absorbent articles may also undergo a folding process prior to packaging. Diaper pants may also include additional manufacturing steps not used in the manufacture of conventional taped diapers. For example, diaper pants may include side panels that connect front and rear waist regions with each other. Thus, after being folded into a U about a lateral centerline in the same or similar way as conventional diapers, the side panels on diaper pants may connect the front and rear waist regions to form a waist opening and a pair of leg openings. In addition, the side panels may be laterally tucked inside the diaper pants before packaging.
Some currently available side panel tucker processes advance the diaper pant in a machine direction between upper and lower vacuum conveyors. In such configurations, the upper vacuum conveyor may apply an upward vacuum force to the front waist region of the diaper pant while the lower vacuum conveyor may apply a downward vacuum force to the rear waist region of the diaper pant. As such, the opposing vacuum forces hold the waist regions of the diaper pant apart from each other. Then, while the waist regions of the diaper are held apart by vacuum, a rotating tucker blade or air stream may be used to push the side panels into the interior of the diaper. Once the side panels are tucked into the diaper, the front and rear waist regions are then pressed against each other to hold the side panels in the tucked position. However, forces exerted on the diaper as a result of the vacuum and the relatively high travel speeds in combination with elasticity of the side panels, may result in the side panels unintentionally moving back out of the diaper before the front and rear waist regions are pressed against each other.